Retracing the route once taken by his idol Abraham Lincoln, President-elect Barack Obama on Sunday rode a special inaugural train to the US capital, asking Americans to commit to a "new declaration of independence" from "bigotry and prejudice" in a time of "vast" challenges.

The symbolic train trip from Philadelphia, the cradle of US independence, to Washington drew huge cheering crowds who braved freezing weather and gathered along the railway tracks, some with tears in their eyes. A tight security cordon was laid all along the route and flight restrictions imposed.

Image: Obama and his wife Michelle are pictured en route to Claymont, Delaware on his whistle-stop train trip to Washington.Photograph: Chang W Lee/Pool/Reuters